Smith pinpoints race simulation as most vital

Bradley Smith insists that race simulation runs are currently the top priority in pre-season testing, believing races will be ‘quite different’ in MotoGP™ this year.

In 2014, Smith will contest a second full season with Monster Yamaha Tech3 as the field is split between either Factory Option or Open machines. Following the first day of testing at Sepang in Malaysia on Tuesday, Englishman Smith summed up events.

"The new bike is quite different, with the way it all works in terms of engine and characteristic-wise," Smith began to explain.

"I have been spending the morning trying to make it feel like it did last year, so then you know where you are starting from and can work out what the good points of the new system are. Looking at the lap times, we are quite close to where we would like to be. It’s just all about working on electronics (today) and then worrying about settings and times as the test progresses."

Moving on to surmise how he expects Grands Prix to pan out, Smith continued:

"I think race situation will be quite difference this year and that there is more lap time and performance to be gained practicing over 20 laps than there is one lap. That is my main aim for these winter tests."

The Oxford rider concluded that he aims to complete a full race simulation run on Thursday, the third and final day of this week’s test.